Independent candidate for Wentworth Kerryn Phelps lodges a complaint with the Australian Electoral Commission over a fake email claiming she had withdrawn from the campaign because she has HIV, and is considering taking it to police.

An email falsely claiming independent candidate Dr Kerryn Phelps has pulled out of the Wentworth by-election because she has HIV has emerged, in what the candidate says is just one of the "dirty tricks" being deployed in the campaign.

Speaker Tony Smith tells the House of Representatives the by-election for Malcolm Turnbull's leafy seat of Wentworth will be held on Saturday, October 20 — the first vote since the Government's chaotic leadership spill.

Andrew Bragg, considered the frontrunner for Liberal preselection in the prized seat of Wentworth, withdraws his candidacy, saying the party should pick a woman and that allegations of bullying in Canberra had "shocked" him.

A new report on rental affordability in Australia's eastern states reveals the tourist town of Byron Bay is ahead of Sydney and Melbourne on the list of problem areas, with average rents almost half the average household income.

Mayors may have won the battle to stop the merger of their councils, but the victors are looking to get back the sizeable costs spent fighting the NSW Government, and to stop them being able to try it again.

While some communities are celebrating the NSW Government's possible backflip on council amalgamations, others in the merged councils say it is too late to turn back, and Labor accuses the Deputy Premier of leaking amalgamation wind-backs.